Friday, June 17, 2011

Lutheran Volunteer Corps Still Has Positions Open for 2011 - 2012

Know someone who is looking for a way to serve? Lutheran Volunteer Corps still has positions available for their 2011-2012 program year! Simply submit a resume and cover letter to recruitment@lutheranvolunteercorps.org to check out this amazing opportunity.

LVC is a great opportunity for people to live out our core spiritual practices of justice, sustainability and community while receiving valuable work experience and opportunities for engagement and learning with a particular focus on anti-racism work. A few placements in this list have education or language requirements.

Learn more about Lutheran Volunteer Corps at www.lutheranvolunteercorps.org.

Ministry of Caring, Inc. - Guardian Angel Child Care, Teacher's Aide (Direct Service)
Wilmington, DE - The Guardian Angel Child Care Center allows low-income parents to maintain their

On Forgiveness

Following an interesting conversation at our Caring and Sharing Book Club on Wednesday night, I wanted to share this link to a story about forgiveness and a Muslim family who will not be defined by the hatred and violence inflicted upon them. 

The beautiful and justifiably famous Niebuhr quotation illustrates the interfaith nature of the story, and reminds us that this story of forgiveness is our story, the story of followers of Jesus, as well. We have so much to learn from one another, if only we dare open our minds and hearts to God's activity already alive in the world around us. My church is known as a leader in interfaith and ecumenical relationships; it's about time I caught up.

I tend to think I do alright with ecumenical relationships among my Christian brothers and sisters; besides our annual VBS adventure, at LCS we partner with Richland area churches on youth events, and tonight I plan to attend a potluck with Methodists, Catholic Workers, and other faithful Kalamazoo folk. Yesterday I had a long, exciting conversation with the new organizer at ISAAC, an interfaith organization working in Kalamazoo, so maybe that could become a way for me - and for LCS - to expand interfaith relationships. We have so many shared core values - forgiveness, love, respect, justice - that we owe it to ourselves to listen for God's call to mutuality, relationship, partnership, and joint action on God's behalf in the world that needs all of us to stand on the side of love.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

On Mutual Inspiration

Read these two posts by my dear friend Amanda about the process of leaving her job at Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington, DC. I met Amanda when I was a Short-Term Recruiter for Lutheran Volunteer Corps in the fall of 2008. Because we worked just down the hall from one another (LVC was founded by, and remains housed by, Luther Place), the other STRs and I got to know Amanda, and kept up with her after I'd moved on to other adventures after that fall. After her year of LVC with the Steinbruck Center, she was hired on at Luther Place to do all sorts of awesome work, including the two artistic pursuits detailed in the blog posts, creating the Bethany’s Women of Praise choir and painting beautiful murals on the doors of the old church.

What I love about Part One is the way choir and conductor learn from each other and inspire each other to reach beyond conventional limits. Amanda is a gifted musician, and is off to study choral conducting with my old friends, but I am willing to bet she learned some lessons from her singers at N Street Village that her incumbent singers (Yale grad students and undergrads) could never have taught. Specifically, what motivates a singer to show up for rehearsal or for a concert? How does a conductor truly engage a choir member, reaching the heart of a singer in order to draw out their best effort, their most impassioned interpretation of a piece of music?

Friday, June 3, 2011

My Second Calling

It is common knowledge to most people who find this blog, but my second calling is as a roller derby announcer, calling bouts for our local league, the Killamazoo Derby Darlins. Quite a number of Lutheran Church of the Savior members have attended a bout or two, and they've either enjoyed it or been too polite to tell me they didn't have a good time. Our next bout (yes, roller derby games / matches are called "bouts") is Saturday, June 18th at Wings Stadium, and if you want so save $4 on your ticket, talk to me and I can get you some advance tickets.

I know some people think it's strange for a pastor to be involved in a sport like roller derby,

June Newsletter Article: Vacation Bible School 2011

United at the table: all our joy is joined in song.
United in the faith: all our joy to God belongs.
- Joaquín Madruga; tr. Angel Mattos and Gerhard M. Cartford, “United at the Table” ELW 498

Hello church! As summer rolls in, my thoughts turn to that greatest of summer church traditions, Vacation Bible School. This year we will again be partnering with Fresh Fire and Sunnyside, our neighbor churches on Gull Road, to present a VBS for the neighborhood and beyond, for people of all ages, for lifelong members and first-time visitors. Speaking for the planning team from all three churches, I can say we are very excited about continuing this partnership to bring Jesus to this side of Kalamazoo.

We will gather for VBS from Monday, July 25th to Friday, July 29th at Sunnyside United Methodist Church . Our theme this year is the Shake It Up Café: Where Kids Carry Out God’s Recipe. Kids will be learning of God’s love through food and cooking, of course along with hearty doses of music, Bible study, crafts, and other fun activities.